January 6, 2017 Snorkeling north side of Royal Island, Eleuthera

Today the wind was predicted to be “light and variable”   That meant a nice calm day on the water to go snorkeling again.  We headed out about 11:00 and went to the “outside” of this island where the water is shallow and full of reefs.  I was glad it was a calm day, because we were about 1.5  miles off shore.  Even at that distance, the depths ranged from 30 feet to 2 feet.  We passed over some beautiful reefs and decided to check them out.  We shut off the motor of the dingy and hung a line along the side of the boat.  Since I couldn't dive very well in my wetsuit, I tried out our new underwater camera and just enjoyed drifting along with the boat. 

Our masks were much better today.  Dave got into hunting mode right away.  He usually swam near the boat and followed along with the dinghy.

After about an hour, I was making some adjustments to my mask strap and it ended up getting foggy again.  I decided to get in the boat and take a break.  Dave ended up spearing 2 fish.  I helped get them into the boat, and was able to take a couple pictures.  Once I started drying out, it was harder to get back in the water.  The water was so calm and clear, that I had a great view just looking over the side of the dinghy.  After about 2 hours in the water, Dave thought a barracuda was checking him out.  So time to go.  We motored around awhile longer to check out more areas for future snorkeling.  Then we circled around Egg Island, where we have anchored before.  It is just fun to explore on the dingy. 

Back at the boat, there is a lot of work involved with rinsing all the gear, hanging things to dry and cleaning the fish.  The fish dinner was awesome.  I guess I am slipping by not taking photos of our food.

little island off shore that we snorkeled near